False fire alarm control



l 1970 J. J. GOERNER 3,531,794

FALSE FIRE ALARM CONTROL Filed April 26, 1968 Fig.2.

' gvi 8 AINVENTOR.

JOHN J. GOERNER has ATTORNEY Fig.6. d

3,531,794 FALSE FIRE ALARM CONTROL John J. Goerner, 1052 Mulberry St.,Reading, Pa. 19604 Filed Apr. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 724,483 Int. Cl. G08b25/00 US. Cl. 340-297 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The inventionrelates to a control system for exposing the sender of a false firealarm. It comprises a fire alarm box having a door, which, when opened,actuates a local alarm means to indicate the presence of the sender, andwhich opened door exposes to view a shutter which is normally heldclosed. A timer allows opening of the shutter only after lapse of apredetermined or preset time period to delay access to the fire alarmswitch. The local alarm may be audible and a light to illuminate asender and perhaps a camera to take his picture.

If the person is sincere in sending in the alarm, he will still be atthe box to send the alarm to bring the apparatus to the scene. However,if he intends to send in a false alarm, he must wait for the time delay(which can be set to any amount of seconds) depending upon whether thealarm box is located at a heavy populated district or a sparselypopulated district. With this time delay he will be exposed to thenoisemaker and the well lighted area around the alarm box.

This invention relates to a system for detecting a false fire alarm.

In the past, considerable time and expense has been expended by firedepartments in answering false fire alarms by pranksters, burglars, andthe like. Such false fire alarms have recently increased to almostunbelievable numbers and have become a serious problem.

An object of the present invention is to solve the abovementionedproblem by exposing to view by persons nearby, a person that is in theprocess of sending an alarm to a central station.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a temporarybarrier to the alarm button which is removed only after predeterminedtime delay, during which the person attempting to send in an alarm isexposed to View by flood lights and by a siren or other noise makingdevice.

Other objects and advantages will become more ap parent from a study ofthe following description, taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a pole mounting a fire alarm box, aflood light and siren or other noisemakers FIGS. 2 and 3 show a controlcircuit embodying the present invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the fire alarm box after thedoor is opened, FIG. 4 showing a shutter or gate for preventing accessto the alarm button and FIG. 5 showing the shutter or gate removed andthe button exposed for operation;

FIG. 6 is a vertical, cross-sectional view of the box shown in FIG. 4;and, FIG. 6A shows a modification; and

FIG. 7 is a modification of the control circuit.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotesa pole on which is mounted the fire alarm box 2 having a door 5 whichmust be opened to sound the alarm. Near the top of the pole are mounteda flood light 3 and a siren or other noise making device 4. As shown inFIG. 4, when the door 5 is opened, a switch 6 is actuated and a gate orshutter 7, which may be lifted by a solenoid SOL-1, prevents access tothe alarm button United States Patent Olfice 3,531,794 Patented Sept.29, 1970 8 for actuating a circuit 9 shown more specifically in FIGS. 2and 3.

The local alarm 4 that is, the one on the pole, may be a siren, a hornor bell or other noise producer, together with a floodlight 3 positionedabove the fire alarm box, to alert nearby residents that the door of thefire alarm box has been opened. Solenoid SOL-1 lifts the gate or shutter7 to expose the fire or call alarm button or switch 8 (FBI).

By my control system, I can (1) sound an alarm on the pole at the alarmbox and light a floodlight at the same time while sending a primarysignal (LT2) to the alarm room or central station upon first activatingthe door of the alarm box; (2) I can hold this action for a period oftwenty seconds (or other desired period) at which time the signal to thealarm room or central station is interrupted and the call button orswitch 8 is exposed by the action of the solenoid SOL-1; (3) upon thepressing of the button FBI or switch 8, a second signal is sent to thealarm room or central station over the same pair of wires.

Upon opening of the small door 5 on the alarm box 2, switch 6 (SW1) isclosed activating light 3 (LTl), the floodlight 3, the alarm 4 andstarting the time delay cycle ITR, also through normally closed switch(ICR2) lighting (LT2) signal to the distant alarm room or centralstation.

When (AMPERITE ITR) timer times itself out (say in about 20 sec.) switch(ITRI) closes, activating (ICR) control relay. (ICRI) closes and (ICR2)opens. Therefore solenoid SOL-1 opens the gate or shutter 7 exposing(PBI) pushbutton and the signal to the alarm room or central station(LT2) goes off.

If the alarm sender presses the call button or switch 8 (FBI), (2CR2)control relay is activated and holds itself in through its own contact(2CR1). When this happens (2CR2) contact is also closed, lighting lamp(LT2) again which represents the alarm room or central station receivingthe second signal.

If the alarm sender does not press the call button 8 (PBI) within areasonable time, the alarm room or central station will know this is afalse alarm.

In the alarm room or central station, a relay and step switch (forexample) could be used to separate the first and second signals and toindicate which is presently operating. Also from this relay and stepswitch the alarm can be automatically taped out upon receiving thesecond Si nal.

As a modification of the invention, the gate or shutter may be opened bya solenoid SOL1, located below instead of above shutter 7 so that if thecircuit is broken, the shutter will fall by gravity. If this solenoidfails the alarm could not be sent in to the alarm room. I thereforedevised a fail safe circuit.

My second circuit operates in this manner: Switch (SW1) is held closedby the alarm box door 5 being closed. This switch falls upon when thedoor is opened. When switch (SW1) is closed, it energizes (ICR) and(ITR) the timer. (ITR) is the type of a timer that begins its time cyclewhen it is deactivated for fail-safety.

Now when the door is opened, switch (SW1) opens, dropping (ICR) and(ITR). (ICRL) opens so that closing the door again cannot bring thecircuit back to normal. (ICR) stays deenergized. At this time, the offtime cycle (ITR) begins and (ICR2) and (ICR3) close setting off (A1),the local alarm on the pole, and (LTl) the floodlight on the pole. Also(1CR4) closes giving the alarm room or central station its first signalindicating the door on the alarm box has been opened.

When timer (ITR) times itself out, (ITRL) drops open, deactivating (ZCR)relay. This time solenoid SOL- 1 is holding in a latch which is lockingthe door or shutter 7 in the front of the true alarm button 8 (PB].) andwhen the latch is released by being deenergized, the gate 7 falls awayfrom button (PBl) by force of gravity. The reason is if anything fails,the alarm button or switch will be exposed anyhow to send in an alarm.When the gate or shutter 7 falls, (2CR2) also opens, stopping the firstsignal to the alarm room or central station.

Now if the person sending in the alarm presses button 8 (PBl) relay(2CR) pulls in and on holds its own contact (3CR1). (3CR2) closes,reactivating relay (ICR) putting out the local fioodlight, alsosilencing the local alarm on the pole (A1) since continued noise wouldserve only to confuse. At the same time, switch (3CR3) closes the secondsignal to the alarm room or central station which tapes out the alarm,bringing the apparatus to the scene.

FIG. 3 shows how a circuit to the alarm room or central station alsocould be made to separate the first signal from the second signal by theuse of a step switch for example, upon the first signal. The advancecoil of a step switch (STS) could be energized with a relay coil (4CR).(4CR1) contact could pass current to the wiper of (STS) which is onposition #1. This could then activate a small bell indicating that thebox has been opened. Upon interruption of the first signal, the stepswitch (SWS) would step to position #2. The second signal would now passthrough the same contact (4CR1) and the same wiper of (STS), but thistime would pass through position #2 of (STS) and could start the alarmtape, sending apparatus to the scene of the alarm box. When theenergizing is over, the alarm box is restored to normal and a key isinserted in the key switch (PBZ) which is momentarily activatedrestoring (ICR) to activated position and (3CR) to deactivated position.The box is now ready for a new emergency.

Instead of or in addition to initially signalling a light LTl or analarm 4, a camera such as a still or TV camera A1 located at a strategciposition may be actuated to take a picture of the person sending thealarm.

Also the alarm button could be used with a pin 10 (see FIG. 6A) throughthe center of it that would be pulled through a hole in the button tolet the button be pushed in. This can be worked on the same principle asthe shutter by the use of a solenoid. The pin would extend through thehole in the alarm button, thus making it impossible to push the alarmbutton in. After the prescribed time, the pin can be drawn out of thehole by the means of a solenoid, thus leaving the button free to bepushed in to send in the alarm.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient system forexposing a person to view while sending in a fire alarm so that he maybe apprehended if the alarm is false, which system is harmless,inexpensive and effective; also I have provided a system which will actas a deterrent to the turning in of false alarms and to de tect themsufiiciently early as to prevent a needless run by fire apparatus whichwould be costly as well as endanger life and property.

While I have illustrated and described several modifications of myinvention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of my invention and Within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. A control system for exposing the sender of a false fire alarm,comprising a fire alarm box having a door, a shutter within said box andwhich is exposed to view and is accessible upon opening of said door, analarm switch normally blocked from view and from operation by saidshutter, means normally closing said shutter, a timer for controllingsaid means to enable manual opening of said shutter only after lapse ofa predetermined time period as preset by said timer to provide delayedexposure of said alarm switch for manual operation.

2. A control system as recited in claim 1 wherein a local alarm means isalso actuated by opening of said door.

3. A control system as recited in claim 2 wherein a camera is actuatedas the result of opening of said door so as to photograph the personsending in the alarm.

4. A control system as recited in claim 1 wherein said means comprises arelay which, when energized, holds said shutter closed and whende-energized, after expiration of said predetermined time delay period,permits opening of said shutter, and wherein said timer may be set for aperiod of about 20 seconds.

5. A control system as recited in claim 4 together with illuminating andsignal means to illuminate the operator of said box and sound an alarmas the result of opening of said door.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1907 Holden 340-308 12/1932Rothman et a1. 340221 US. Cl. X.R. 340-221, 308

